Programme / Social Innovation for Sustainable Development: Exchange of Good Practices from the Local level

The government of the state of Guanajuato, in Mexico, has a public policy of "mentefactura" (mindfacture), which consists of promoting innovation by applying knowledge derivated from science and experience to improve value-added products and services.

This perspective is cross-cutting and inclusive. An important part of this public policy is the "Mindfacture Nodes" program. The Nodes put the people of Guanajuato, who live in disadvantaged situations, at the center of innovation, empowering them with technologies, products and a business model to integrate them into a triple impact social economy: circular economy, family economy and local or regional economic regeneration.

The Nodes have a transformative purpose: citizens, mainly women, who through knowledge transfer processes discover new capabilities by acquiring technical skills and technical-scientific language. The Nodes are cooperative spaces oriented to social and community development, where knowledge is acquired and put into practice in semi-industrial production units and materialized through social enterprises, which offer value-added products to the market.

The side event is the ocassion to exchange experiences on social innovation with other good practices of other regions in the world. The program of ”Mindfacture Nodes” could be shared to students, policy-makers, innovators, researchers, interested in to apply knowledge for social development